Few surprises in King County Council races

Primary results in the Metropolitan King County Council races didn’t surprise many Tuesday night, but they did give Eastside incumbent Reagan Dunn an idea of how hard he’ll have to fight against challenger Shari Song to stay on the job.

Two council races and the race for King County executive were on the primary ballot. The top two candidates for each race move on to the November general election.

King County Executive Dow Constantine breezed through Tuesday’s primary election with 76 percent of the vote. Civil engineer Alan Lobdell was leading the pack for second place with 12 percent of the vote, while Metro Transit bus driver Everett Stewart had 7 percent and businessman Goodspaceguy 4 percent.

In District 1, the newest council member, Rod Dembowski, will go up against public-health professional Naomi Wilson in the fall. Dembowski had 69 percent of the vote, while Wilson had 24 percent and accountant John Fray 6 percent.

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Dembowski replaced Bob Ferguson, who left the council after being elected Washington state attorney general last fall. District 1 covers an area stretching from Shoreline to Kirkland and Woodinville.

In District 9, Dunn, who lost to Ferguson when he also ran for attorney general last year, held a strong lead with 56 percent of the vote, while Song tallied 35 percent in results counted Tuesday. The third candidate in the race, Kristina Macomber, had 9 percent.

“But I take every challenge seriously, and Shari is a candidate who deserves to be taken seriously,” Dunn said after results were released.

Song said her showing Tuesday was strong enough to make the general election competitive. “As a newcomer, it’s hard to know what to expect, and I think anything over 30 percent is great,” she said.

Song has raised more in campaign donations than any of Dunn’s previous challengers for the District 9 seat, which represents an area including Bellevue, Renton and Maple Valley.

She’s won endorsements from King County Democrats, labor unions and Washington Conservation Voters.

Dunn was endorsed by the mayors of all eight cities in his district, the Council of Metropolitan Police and Sheriffs, and the Affordable Housing Council, among others.